June 19, 2024 | Terry Smith

4 ways to improve the longevity of your portering chairs

Having invested a chunk of money into new portering chairs, the last thing you want to be doing is replacing a whole load a few months down the line!

Unfortunately, we often hear stories of portering chairs being damaged, misplaced, or in some cases mysteriously disappearing altogether – so let’s look at 4 ways you can improve the longevity of the chairs at your Trust.

Jump straight to:

Choose robust Portering chairs

It might seem obvious, but the first step in improving the longevity of your Portering chairs, is to ensure that you buy chairs that are made to last!

Portering chairs are used very frequently and travel over long distances daily, and subsequently, small accidents such as bumping walls or doors occur regularly. All these things can lead to a lot of wear and tear over time, so choosing a portering chair that’s up for the job is important!

We recommend selecting a portering chair with no bare-steel components, as these can rust over time, and where possible, choose a chair with integrated bumpers to avoid scratches and dents to the chair in the event of a collision. We’ve also had feedback that features such as drop-down armrests secured with thumbscrews are less reliable than folding armrests, and the thumbscrews can be damaged or lost over time.

Use a coin lock system

Most portering chairs will have the option to add accessories such as card or coin lock systems, and wall brackets, and we would recommend adding these to help prevent your chairs from being misplaced, lost, or damaged, improving longevity.

A lock system, either for a coin or a specific token, is available for the TransitFlow Portering Chair.

We would also recommend choosing chairs that can be stacked or nested, which will make storage a lot easier and help prevent having loose chairs scattered over the site.

Get your chairs serviced regularly

As with all hospital equipment, regular maintenance and servicing is essential for increasing the longevity of your portering chairs.

Most portering chair manufacturers will recommend a yearly service, at a minimum. In the case of the TransitFlow, servicing can either be carried out by ourselves or by your Estates or Clinical Engineering departments.

Ensure proper usage and care

Lastly, and this really goes without saying, ensuring all your staff know how to use the chairs correctly, and with the appropriate care, will help to ensure your chairs are kept damage-free for many years.

We take training very seriously here at Felgains, and when implementing the TransitFlow in your Trust, we do our best to ensure all staff are present for a face-to-face training session and are left confident and competent in the use of the chairs.

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